Cancer Center Pharmacy Closing for Renovations

Beginning March 25, the Rogel Cancer Center pharmacy will be closed for renovations. It is anticipated that the pharmacy will remain closed for approximately 6 months. Currently, the changes currently only impact patients scheduled for Cancer Center infusions.

During renovations, it will not be possible to prepare drugs in the Rogel Cancer Center infusion pharmacy. Drugs will largely be prepared in advance at C.S. Mott Children’s and Women’s Hospital and off-site pharmacies. Just-in-time drug preparation will be minimized, but still required for drugs with short stability, dose changes, research/investigational products, and certain high-cost drugs.

Treatment orders will need to be signed as early as possible, but no later than the end of business the day before treatment. All orders for the entire cycle of chemotherapy will need to be signed, including interim days, at the start of each treatment cycle. Continuous Infusion orders will continue to require signature 48 hours in advance. This allows the pharmacy to prepare drugs in advance. There are only a select few situations that would permit same-day treatment order signing, such as some research orders.

At this time, three types of patient appointments have been agreed upon:

Option 1: Coupled Appointment - all appointments (labs, clinic, and infusion) will be scheduled and completed on the same day at the Cancer Center. However, if treatment changes occur, the patient may then have long wait times. If pharmacy and Infusion are unable to accommodate the changes within the timeframe, the patient will be required to come back on another day.

Option 2: Uncoupled Appointment - appointments for labs and clinic will be scheduled prior to the infusion appointment. This is beneficial for patients and physicians where treatment orders will only be signed after the labs/clinic visit occurs. This option requires 2 visit days to the Cancer Center. The patient will unlikely have long wait times since the drug will be ready prior to infusion time.

Option 3: Allows for labs to be done earlier at one of the labs closer to the patient’s house. This allows the team to review labs, and know of possible treatment changes so they are able to plan accordingly. The patient would most likely have only 1 visit day at the Cancer Center.

This temporary shutdown is to allow the Rogel Cancer Center pharmacy to become compliant with new standards set by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). The USP sets standards for sterile drug compounding and the handling of hazardous medications in healthcare settings. 

Other pharmacy locations across Michigan Medicine may be impacted by the new USP standards. More information regarding future pharmacy closures will be announced as needed.

If you have further questions on this shutdown and how it impacts research, contact Sujata Guduri at sguduri@med.umich.edu.